Means for temporarily lacing shoe-uppers.



.No. 795,073 PATBNTED JULY 18, 1905. W. A. SMITH.

MEANS FOR TEMPORARILY LAGING SHOE UPPERS.

I APPLIUATION FILED mm: 3.1904.

I l- :I: m Q MT/VESSEE, j f c IVE/ham *vwma' karma wi v NirEn STATES Fatented. July 18, 1905.

PATENT FFICE.

IVILLARD A. SMITH, OF PORTSMOUTH, NE\V HAMPSHIRE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 795,073, dated July 18, 1905.

' Application filed June 3,1904. Serial No. 210,973.

1'0 (ti/Z whom (it may concern Be it known that I, WVILLARD A. SMITH, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Portsmouth, in the county of Rockingham and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Temporarily Lacing Shoe-Uppers, of which the following is a specification.

In United States Patent No. 740,938, issued to me October 6, 1903, is shown and described improved means for temporarily lacing shoe-uppers, a single lacing-cord being used.

My present invention also relates to the above subject and it consists, essentially, in looping the lacing-cord. through a plurality of pairs of registering eyeleted holes previously formed in the quarters of the then bent or folded upper, the loop adjacent the vamp being turned back on itself to form a double loop. The free end of the cord is next passed endwise through the double loop and the other looped portions of the cord followed by fastening the two ends of the cord together.

Upon opening or separating the quarters, as in fitting them over a last, the looped portions of the cord nearest the vamp will be converted into a hard knot, the other looped portions being at the same time more or less yielding.

My present invention differs from said patented lacing means inthat the former has a hard knot formed in the lacing-cord passing through the eyelets nearest the vamp. The object I have in view, or rather the reason for tying the cord of the lower loopc'. 6., the loop nearest the vampinto a hard knot is that after the shoe is lasted and bottomed the last is removed and the shoe again relasted for the finishing operations. Now in order to strengthen the opening adjacent the vamp where the quarters join some shoe manufacturers use what is termed tack, formed by a number of cross-stitches, to prevent the qlparters from ripping or tearing apart. When t e quarters are thus united together, means substantially as set forth in said patent may be employed for temporarily lacing the parts. On very cheap class of work, however, where 5 n0 tack or reinforcement is used, the lacingcord may be applied to the quarters of the shoe-upper substantially as set forth in this present invention-that is to say, the loop nearest the vamp is formed into a hard knot, while the other loops are loosely connected. By means of this arrangement the cord of the last-named loops may be out after the first lasting and bottoming operations have been. performed, the lower part of the quarters being still held snugly together by the tied portion of the cord sufiiciently to permit the insertion of a last into the shoe for the finishing operations.

In the accompanying drawings, representing my improved means for temporarily lacing shoe-uppers, Figure 1 is a side elevation showing a portion of the shoe-upper, the lac ing-cord being omitted. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the cord inserted through a series of the eyeleted holes, but unfastened. Fig. 3 is a corresponding top view. Fig. 4 is a similar top view showing the outer portion of the previously-elongated lower loop turned back on itself, thereby producing a connected double loop. Fig. 5 is a similar view showing the lower or free end of the lacing-cord passed endwise through all the loops, and Fig. 6 is a plan view of the laced portion of the shoe-upper flattened out substantially as in use and having the two ends of the cord tied together.

The two quarters a a of the shoe-upper are provided, along the adjacent or meeting edges, with a series of eyeleted holes d, adapted to receive a temporary lacing-cord c therein. The quarters are stitched or socured to the vamp I) in any suitable manner. The quarters may be laced before they are secured to the vamp. In carrying out the present invention the unlasted shoe-upper when properly bent or folded causes the eyeleted holes (1 of the front quarter to register with those of the other or rear quarter. A length of lacing-cord c is then passed through a number of pairs of said holes d, the cord being bent or flexed to produce therein a corresponding number of connected loops Z, which extend or project beyond the back quarter of the upper. In the present improvement the loop Z, formed in the lower pair of holes,

being that nearest the vamp b, may be somewhat longer than the other loops, substantially as indicated in Fig. 3. As hereinbefore stated, the cord is to be fastened into the lower loop I, so as to form a hard knot, the cord passing therefrom freely through the other loops Z. This result is accomplished by bending or turning the end of the loop backward upon itself, thus forming a temporary double loop P, as shown in Fig. 4. The free end of the lacing-cord, preferably that end nearest the vamp, is then passed across the adjacent edges of the two quar-- ters and endwise through said double loop Z and the several plain loops Z, substantially as shown in Fig. 5. The two ends of the cord may be tied together, as at m and as represented in Fig. 6, or otherwise suitably secure. By means of this improvement it will be seen, Fig. 6, that when the quarters of the upper are opened or flattened, as when fitted over the last, the loops will be drawn comaratively taut into the eyeleted holes, the ower loop thereby being contracted and converted into a hard knot Z After the initial lasting and bottoming operations have been completed the last may be removed after first untying the knot m or cutting the cord above the lower knot Z By thus loosening or severing the cord the upper may be separated sufliciently to permit the withdrawal of the last, the remaining part of the cord still securely holding the lower portions of the quarters together and permitting the shoe to be relasted and subjected to the finishing operations. After" the latter have been performed the cord uniting the lower holes is out, followed by withdrawing the last.

By means of the lacing arrangement herein described the quarters of eyeleted shoe-upers of any class or quality may be securely fastened together temporarily preliminary to performing the lasting, bottoming, and finishing operations.

What I claim herein as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent, is

The herein-described means for securing the quarters of shoe-uppers together while lasting, &c., the same consisting of a lacing-.

cord formed in a plurality of connected loops passed through a corresponding number of pairs of eyeleted holes of said quarters, and having another portion of the cord fastened or tied into one or more of said loops and drawn through the other loops, the two ends of the cord being secured together to prevent it from unlacing.

Signed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, this 31st day of May, 1904.

WILLARD A. SMITH. Witnesses:

JOHN FENDER, ETI-IEL L. Foss. 

